Halo: Heart of Darkness/Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Send in the Marines 0830 , March 23rd, 2553, 23 days after the official end of the human-covenant war Vladmire System, in orbit of Vladmire IV, Onboard UNSC Aviator ' Spartan-003 stood on the bridge of UNSC ''Aviator. The Aviator was a Phoenix class colony ship, refitted for the post war campaign as a transport vessel. It held hundreds of vehicles, aswell as ten albatross heavy dropships. Its CO, Commander Shepard, looked after her very well, treating it like a person. Michael-003 quickly saluted as the Commander walked onto the bridge. "At ease spartan" Said the commander. Spartan-003 lowered his hand and turned to the commander. He looked younger than he actually was, but his height made him look huge. "Whats the situation sir" Asked Spartan-003. "We have ... a problem. We have lost contact with most of the surface bases, but we did recieve a transmission from the capital. They say they're under attack from these... things, but the transmission was cut short. We have one option... Send in the marines." Said commander Shepard, pacing round the Aviators bridge. "I want you to head down to the hanger, get those marines to the planet, and find out what the hell is going on." "Yes Sir!" replied Michael-003, who couldn't wait to get back into the action. He quickly saluted and ran out of the bridge towards the elevator. As he stepped on, the commander bellowed down the ship-wide comm channel. "All crew, prepare the dropships. Marine and ODST forces, group in the hanger and wait for SPARTAN-003 to arrive" As the elevator doors reopened, Michael walked out the door and was greeted by two marines, both whom saluted at him. He walked past them and they followed like hawks. As the marines gathered near the dropships, Spartan-003 stood infront of the lead pelican and began to brief the marines and ODST's. "Something has happened on Vladmire four, something bad. They are under attack by what seem to be a native species, or another species of alien, we arn't to sure. We have been tasked to go down to the surface, find out what is going on, and remove it. permamently. Load up the dropships, get your weapons, and wait till we get to solid ground, then regroup at these co-ordinates." Michael sent a set of co-ordinates to all the marines in the hanger. As he walked away, the ODST's ran to the transport elevator, as did several groups of marines. The ODST's would be going to ground in their own special way, but the marines would go to the second and third hangers. Ben took a Battle rifle he was offered and walked into the back of the nearest pelican. ——————'''0832, Day 1—————— Onboard UNSC ''Aviator'' As the Spartan walked onboard the pelican, all the marines ran to the dropships, but being an ODST, Sgt Jack Obwell got to go his own, special way; a traditional HEV pod drop, feet first into hell. He walked onto the transport elevator, and it began moving. He took a look at his ODST's, who were stood right at the front of the lift. They all had their helmets on, already prepared for combat, with the exception of their weapons. Even though his ODST squad were relatively quiet, he could hear them talking. "So what do you guys thing this problem is? i reckon its just a bunch of stupid native creatures who have just had a great deal of suprise. We'll get rid of 'em in no time." Said Corporal Sored. He was a brave soldier, and the Sgt had served with him for 3 years. "I think otherwise." said Private wells."I think that its some unfound alien race, seeing as we are so far out from UNSC controlled space." He was the newest recruit, but was clever, sharp-minded and alert. The lift stopped at the armoury, and all the ODST’s piled out. Obwell grabbed a battle rifle, a magnum and several grenades. He decided he wouldn’t need much ammo, so he picked up four clips for the battle rifle and three for the magnum. He walked back to the elevator, and watched as the rest of the ODST’s moved back onto the platform. He noticed that private Wells had a rocket launcher; he only hoped he was a good shot with it. Sgt Obwell saluted as Major Bracka walked onto the elevator. “I expect you’ve been briefed already?”He asked the Sergeant. “Of course sir” he replied. “Good, I guess you know exactly what to do then” “Yes sir” The Elevator stopped and the ODST’s marched out, towards their individually marked HEV pods. Sergeant Obwell opened his pod and locked his battle rifle into place. He climbed in and reached for the pod door, but a Lieutenant closed it for him. He checked all the systems, health monitors and other important things that were crammed into the pod. “All systems are go” He shouted to the Lieutenant, and he replied with a simple hit of the pod door. Jack sat tight and waited for the rest of his fellow ODST’s to finish, and then they were going feet first, straight into hell. He adjusted the camera screen and checked everything was secured down, even his magnum. He tried to think of something to do, something to pass the time, but he couldn’t. “Prep to drop!” shouted a crew member. Obwell turned on his squad comm Channel. “Okay, this is it guys, as soon as we hit the ground, head to these co-ordinates and we’ll head to the marine’s base.” Said the sergeant. “5 seconds till drop, good luck everyone!” shouted the Lieutenant. Jack looked at the counter. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. “Release!” shouted the Lt as he punched the controls and the pods dropped, one by one. Jack clung on to the straps and felt his pod moved, followed by the sound of the pressure. “Woo!” shouted private Wills down the comm channel. Sergeant Obwell was tempted to do the same, but he had to keep discipline and order in the squad. He turned on his comm. “Okay, here we go, to war, but how we going?” he shouted down the comm over the sound of the pods roaring through the atmosphere. Every ODST from UNSC ‘’Aviator’’ replied in unison. “We’re going feet first, feet first into hell!” they shouted. Obwell felt honoured to say it. These men were great soldiers, and he knew there would be some who will never come back, some who won’t even survive to see the surface of the planet. He looked at the distance counter; 3000 ft, 2000 ft, 1000 ft. He felt the pod shake and heard screaming. It was someone from Sergeant Tomsens squad. He turned off the comm and looked at the counter. 50 ft. “Hold on!!” he shouted. He heard a crash then everything went black. ——————'0904, Day 1'—————— Onboard UNSC pelican enroute to Alpha base The pelican’s rear ramps dropped and fresh air rushed into the pelican. SPARTAN-003 took a deep breath of the air then looked out the back of the cargo hold. It was beautiful, with lush gardens and fields of every colour. Then the entire flight of pelicans were engulfed in smoke as they flew over the capital city, Arguna. The base was 120 miles from the capital city, but it only took a few minutes to arrive. Michael-003 sat at the back of the pelican, nearest the ramp. “We’re touching down now marines, prepare to bail out” Said the pilot over the comm. The marines began to gather their gear and weapons and stood up near the ramp. They held on the roof netting, and as the pelican hit the ground, they piled out and headed away from the landing site. As Michael got out, the pelican took off and flew away towards the cloud of smoke, then disappeared into it. The marines were forming up ranks near the command centre of the base, yet the area seemed rather deserted. Michael took post at the front of the marines. “Well done marines, you made it down in one piece. Now we head towards the capital, Arguna, and then we move out from there” He shouted to the whole group. “Sir, yes sir!” they all replied in unison. Michael-003 grabbed his battle rifle and walked out the base door gates, with the entire company following him. Outside there was a large open plain with plenty of cover. He advanced about 500 meters until a strange noise began ringing in peoples ears “Sir, I don’t think we should carry on” said one marine, looking very nervous. “I agree, maybe we should head back” said another. Michael was just about to turn round when an explosion detonated 50 meters away, sending marines flying through the air, and out of the dust came a huge walker, all silver, which looked briefly like a scarab. SPARTAN-003 even thought it was covenant until it fired what appeared to be its main weapon, which was bright neon blue. It impacted 100 meters from the walker and vaporized all the marines nearby. “fallback!” shouted SPARTAN-003”Fallback to the base!” ——————'0845, Day 1'—————— On Vladmire IV, 43 Clicks from Arguna Sergeant Obwell opened his eyes. He was alive. He had survived the drop. He climbed out the pod, pulled his battle rifle off its hold and grabbed his spare ammo clips. He walked along a pathway until he saw the other pods, with their ODST’s sat in front of them. “Hey sarge, it’s good to see ya” Said Private Wells. ”we have no injuries except a few bruises.” “Very good, where’s corporal Stevens?” He asked. Wells pointed to a pod with its door still on. “The door didn’t come off in impact, we decided to wait till you got here, see what you would do” said Wells. Sergeant Obwell laid his Battle rifle against a rock and walked to the pod. He examined the door and took a step back. He then took a run up and kicked the door where the release handles were and the door shot off onto a hill. Obwell looked in and Stevens was in there, still alive. He lifted the corporal out the pod and laid him down near Wells and the others. They spent five minutes trying to wake him up. Obwell got up and reached for his battle rifle, but it was gone. He noticed it several meters away from where he left it. “Hey, did any of you move my rifle?” He asked the group. “No, why?” “Because it wasn’t here where I left it, and it’s covered in green and blue stuff” Suddenly, a screech came from the swamp nearby. Obwell looked up and was looking face to face with a creature. He didn’t dare move or say anything. He used one of his hands to unbuckle his magnum and he hit the thing in the face whilst firing into its head. Another screech came and a swarm of the creatures ran out the swamps. “Run!!” he shouted to the rest of the group as he grabbed his rifle and sprinted away from the horde. After nearly a minute of chasing, Wells found something. “Look, a garage, in there, now!” he shouted. They ran in one by one until they were all there. Inside there were three warthogs. Sergeant Obwell, Wells and Stevens got in one, which had a Gauss turret. The others all hopped into either the transport warthog or the LRV hog. “This is gonna be some sweet, sweet fun” said Stevens, as the warthog rammed down he door and flattened a load of the creatures. Characters |} ---- Chapters Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18 - Chapter 19 - Chapter 20 - Chapter 21 - Chapter 22 - Chapter 23 - Chapter 24 - Chapter 25 - Chapter 26 - Chapter 27 - Chapter 28 - Chapter 29 - Chapter 30 - Chapter 31 - Chapter 32 - Chapter 33 - Chapter 34 - Chapter 35 - Chapter 36 - Chapter 37 - Chapter 38 - Chapter 39 - Chapter 40 ---- |}